The Salopian no. 160 - Summer 2017

OLD SALOPIAN NEWS 69
Marlow Regatta
at Dorney Lake
With Marlow Regatta at Dorney Lake
and Henley Qualifiers fast approaching
towards the end of June 2016, the crew
stepped up their training programme
with up to four water sessions a
week and ergo tests in between. The
hard work paid off, with the crew’s
average 2k ergo time now well below
the previous year’s and all members
noticeably leaner than ever before! It
was time for the real tests though.
Marlow was held on Saturday 18th June
and was less than a week before the
Henley Qualifying races, so the pressure
was on to put into the races what we
had been doing in practice. The crew
were drawn in the first time trial of the
day, which meant a very early start!
After a good row, the crew finished 3rd
in their time-trial, putting them into the
A final. For some of the crew, this may
have been the final opportunity for a
win at a major multi-lane racing regatta.
What was even more special was that it
was on Dorney Lake, the home of the
Olympics in 2012. With a pre-race team
talk from Coach Paul Manser, the boys and
cox Lettie Tay were fired up for the final.
After a sluggish start, the crew were
lying in 4th at around 750m, when they
found their rhythm. In the next 750m
they rowed through all the other crews
to take the lead by the 1500m mark,
before rowing through to the finish to
win in a time of 6.12 by 2/3rds of a
length. It was a fantastic row and a huge
effort to come through to win: their
greatest achievement so far.
Henley Qualifying Races
Spirits were high as the crew travelled
down to Henley on 24th June 2016 for
the Thames Challenge Cup qualifying
races. The weather was poor and the
river up, which didn’t favour the newlook
‘lightweight’ crew. With the largest
ever entry to the Thames Cup (55),
the fastest 13 crews from a total of 36
crews would go through: the pressure
was really on. After a good row came
the anxious wait. Within around 45
minutes the results came through over
loudspeaker across the boat tents –
when Sabrina Club’s name was called:
an amazing result and one that made
history - the first time a Sabrina VIII has
ever qualified to race at Henley, and the
first Sabrina crew of any size to race at
Henley since 1946. The last few years
of commitment had finally paid off and
should not be under-rated, particularly
bearing in mind the quality of the crews
taking part in this event with nearly a
third from overseas.
On the pontoons outside Henley boat tents
Thames Challenge Cup
first round
After moving down to our base just
outside Henley, the crew enjoyed a few
days getting out onto the river to soak
up the atmosphere of Henley before
their 1st round race on Wednesday. The
draw was released and unfortunately
the crew were pitted against the
highly fancied Fujian Rowing Club:
the Under-23 Chinese National Silver
medallists, whose average height was
6ft 3 in… The conditions on the day
were again atrocious, with rain and a
high head / cross wind, which didn’t
favour the Bucks side for Sabrina. The
crew went off hard to the island and
were still within reach of the Chinese
VIII, but they proved too strong for
the much lighter-weight Sabrina crew
and pulled away, winning the tie. It
would not be a surprise to see some
of the Chinese crew taking part in the
Tokyo Olympics in four years’ time.
The Sabrina crew showed excellent
Wednesday racing against the Chinese on the Henley course
strength and form in very difficult
conditions though – and what a
fantastic achievement to qualify and
race at Henley!
A big thank you for all the help and
support the 2016 crew received from
coach Paul Manser, Director of Rowing
Athol Hundermark, Boatman Andy Clark
and the rest of his team at the Boat Club,
the Sabrina Committee and friends and
families of the crew in helping make this
happen. The crew for both Marlow and
Henley 2016 were:
Stroke - A Hagger (PH 86-91)
7 - J Russell (PH 90-95)
6 - R Shropshire (I 91-96)
5 - P Randall (O 99-02)
4 - J Kynaston (Ch 08-13)
3 - M Walker (M 92-95)
2 - P Wood (M 92-97)
1 - R Homden (Rb 09-14)
Cox - L Tay (MSH 13-15)
Coach - P Manser (DB 74-79)